Me and You and Everyone We Know

This film is very much about the inability of people to say what they are truly feeling and what they truly mean and the struggle that ensues when they try to connect with others through different methods. Me and You and Everyone We Know depicts a broad spectrum of characters who are for the most part quite reclusive, and the movie showcases what happens when such characters attempt to reach out to one another. One of the main characters in this large cast is Christine, the eccentric performance artist who makes videos that involve photographs of people to which she adds voice overs that portray them in their most true form, declaring their love, marveling at a landscape and sharing a TRUE Kodak moment. Her final masterpiece is the culmination of an elderly couple's love, suddenly interrupted by death the woman, Ellen's death. Using a picture of the Mayan ruins, Christine is able to bring closure to her close friend and Eldercab client, Michael, who wishes he was able to bring his love, Ellen, to see the historic site before she died. It is on this make-believe trip to the ruins that Michael is able to finally express his deep love in the way he always dreamed. Through Christine's art she is able to liberate herself (and now others) and create this personal utopia in which all people express their innermost feelings. In the same way, she reaches out to Richard, the lonely single father and shoe salesman. Walking back to their cars together from the store they share a moment of speculative fantasy in which they pretend they are walking through the time line of their lives, using landmarks they pass as a reference of years they'd share if they were together. Through this playful medium they express their true yearnings, but when Christine tries later on to invite herself into Richard's car, emotions clash as Richard is no longer comfortable when confronted by the seriousness of her interest in him. Richard's youngest son Robby also expresses himself through a medium when he does cyber sex in an online chatroom with a mysterious person, later revealed to be Nancy Herrington the director of the art gallery that Christine attempts and is finally accepted into. This materializes with an awkward and quite inappropriate kiss on a park bench. Richard's co-worker, Andrew, finds himself in a similar scenario in which a medium is used to communicate. He enjoys flirting with but cannot bring himself to express his sexual desires openly with two teenage girls that hang out outside his apartment and instead leaves signs up in the window that depict sexual acts that he fantasizes about doing with them. Through this medium he is able to express his true desires, but when they finally knock on his door he cannot face them. This is what the film is about: people living behind the comfort of barriers or mediums and what happens when they are broken down, when people are finally confronted head on with their desires. These are just a few examples from the film, but their are many more and Me and You and Everyone We Know is successful in commenting on this unique human condition.